American Univesity of Beirut

​​​​Plants have been commonly utilized throughout history in the culinary, cosmetic and medicinal fields. It is the essential oil of plants that gives them their characteristic tastes and aromas and therefore their usage value. Plants produce this oil for a variety of survival adaptations including attracting bees for pollination and repelling insects that may feed on them. The essential oil of each plant is unique to its geographical location; no two plants belonging to the same species and found in different areas can have the same essential oil composition. For this very reason members of the center analyzed the essential oils of aromatic plants found in Lebanon, endemic to Lebanon and/or the Mediterranean, for their potential market value.